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Nürburgring Endurance

Maini Quickest for Mercedes-AMG in Opening Session

Indian driver quickest in HRT-run Mercedes as quali practice begins at the N24…

Photo: Gruppe C Photography

Arjun Maini set the quickest time in the opening qualifying practice session for the Nürburgring 24 as one of the factory-backed Audi entries crashed in the closing minutes.

Maini steered the No. 6 Mercedes-AMG Team Bilstein Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo to a best lap of 8:14.785.

The Indian driver’s time in the Haupt Racing Team-operated car came in the last 30 minutes of the 1 hour, 45-minute session.

Ricardo Feller, who was leading the session at the time, ended up second aboard the No. 16 Scherer Sport PHX Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II with a gap of 1.375 seconds to Maini.

Christian Krognes took third aboard the No. 101 Walkenhorst Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, ahead of the No. 4 Mercedes piloted by Raffaele Marciello.

Christopher Haase rounded out the top five in the No. 39 Audi Sport Team Land entry, with Timo Scheider sixth in the No. 40 Audi Sport Team Scherer PHX entry that he shares with Mike Rockenfeller and Martin Tomczyk.

Sheldon van der Linde came home in seventh for ROWE Racing, ahead of Konrad Motorsport driver Yelmer Buurman and Dennis Lind.

Gilles Magnus completed the top ten for Audi Sport Team Car Collection but had an accident late in the session.

The Belgian driver was at the wheel of the No. 22 Audi when he lost control through the Hatzenbach section and hit the right-side tire barrier, inflicting damage to the front right of the car before stopping on track.

Thursday’s practice running for the Nürburgring 24 continues with a night session starting at 8 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET).

RESULTS: Qualifying 1

Davey Euwema is Sportscar365's European Editor. Based in The Netherlands, Euwema covers the FIA World Endurance Championship, European Le Mans Series and Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS, among other series.

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